Masuji Madarai
Masuji Madarai (斑井 枡次, Madarai Masuji) was the leader of the Enslave Tsukumogami faction and the former assistant head priest of the Tsuzura Temple. Appearance Masuji is a short elderly man with a pointy moustache and a small goatee on his chin. He is mostly bald with only hair on the back of his head and a small amount of hair on the middle which stick out. Despite his age, Masuji is physically fit with well defined muscles. Masuji's regular clothes consist of a kimono with tassels on the side of each chest. Personality Masuji is extremely arrogant, believing himself to be the most capable combatant. After watching Kukuri's battle with Kanaka Kagami, he believed the threat Kanaka posed to have been over exaggerated and stated Kukuri should be ashamed for having lost. He talks down to Kazuya Kagami despite knowing he is capable of Ascension which is highest obtainable goal of the temple's exorcist, achieved by none so far. Along with his arrogance, Madarai is easily angered when opposed or when his plans fail. Masuji does not view tsukumogami as people but rather tools. Masuji believes that the temple's reliance on a few strong individuals with a close connection to their tsugumomo to be detrimental when the rest of them can perform just as well by treating their tsukumogami as tools and exhausting them as they see fit. History It is suggested that Madarai and Ouhi Oriobana were classmates at Tsuzura Temple. Plot Masuji orchestrates a plot to overthrow Ouhi Oriobana as head priest of Tsuzura Temple while she meets with Kazuya Kagami about situation Kanaka Kagami. While she is away, Masuji has Ouhi's followers detained, the tsugumomo from Mayoiga locked away and uses Arumi Ashimine's ability to replay Kukuri's fight with Kanaka. When Ouhi returns to Tsuzura temple with Kazuya he has Takumi Tagusari along with his other exorcists detain them. While the two are imprisoned Masuji explains his plans, goals and motivations to them. Ouhi and Kanaka manage to escape freeing Ouhi's followers in the process. Ouhi and Masuji's group confront each other and Ouhi challenges Masuji to the Nine Masters Tournament to determine leadership of Tsuzura Temple. A crowd gathers around the group and leaving him has no choice to accept Ouhi's challenge. Kazuya and Ouhi are able to free some the Mayoiga tsugumomo while the rest remain in Masuji's captivity. While Ouhi is bathing, Masuji and Kagashi use the incense burner tsukumogami Hakuenko to put Ouhi to sleep and interrogate her about the whereabouts of the temple's Puppet Bindings. They would later use Hakuenko to interrogate Ouhi again to gain information about their team. In the Nine Masters Tournament assigned Kazuya as his opponent. Madarai has the fighters on his faction use Puppet Bindings on the captured Mayoiga tsugumomo, allowing them to secretly use multiple tsukumogami, with Takumi Tagusari and Suguru Susuzumi being the only ones not to, Suguru insisting he does no need it. Shiori Shioiori is given an additional puppet binding to self activate in her match against Ouhi should Shiori ever admit defeat. Even when his scheme is revealed, Masuji is still confident his faction will win. After Takumi's defeat at the hands of Takano Tagusari, Masuji lashes out at Arumi and Mimane Miyou for his team losing despite all the effort placed in their strategy, including using Arumi's power to predict their victory. Mimane explains that the further Arumi looks in into the future the more unreliable it gets. Masuji has Mimane use her power to observe Ouhi team meeting. Madarai and Kazuya face off in the final match of the tournament. Madarai uses his his warehouse tsukumogami Chuushingura which he also uses to store the remaining bound Mayoiga tsugumomo. Masuji uses Sanjou to nullify Kazuya and Kyouka's sound attacks but the two are able to free Sanjou from his bindings and unarm Masuji. Masuji continues to fight unarmed until deciding to use Chushingura and his remaining puppet bindings to bind the remaining Mayoiga tsugumomo to him, transforming him into grotesque monster while using all of their abilities. Kazuya is enraged and enters Domination which proves to be too much for Masuji. Just as Masuji is about to be defeated, Kazuya's Domination wears off having Exhausted Kyouka to the point of breaking. As Madarai is about to finish Kazuya off, Kazuya is saved by Kiriha. Kiriha and Kazuya use Ascension and defeat Madarai, freeing the remaining tsugumomo in the process. Madarai is imprisoned and transformed into a immobile mass of flesh and hands as a side effect of using the puppet bindings. Ouhi and Madarai strike a deal in order for him to use Chuushingura to restore damaged the Mayoiga tsugumomo. Ouhi later returns to fulfill her end of the bargain. Though the details of Madarai's request are unknown, it is heavily implied by that he was given an assisted suicide. This is evidenced by his last image standing with his back faced in dark room on water, a famous eastern image of a deceased soul crossing the Sanzu River (aka the river of life and death). Furthermore, to cover for his disappearance, it was told others that Madarai had himself sent to a regional branch due to his decreased popularity as a result of his actions, but only in the records, implying this was a cover-up for his death. Abilities Natural Abilities Expert Combatant: Despite his arrogant and underhanded nature, Madarai does possess the great physical capabilities and combat expertise, making him deserving as his status as an eighth sigil exorcist. Madarai is shown to be able to adapt quickly to use new weapons and abilities granted to him by his tsukumogami. He has shown great tactical and analytical prowess, being able to read and counter attacks accordingly in the middle of battle. Unarmed, Madarai is able to fight on par against Kazuya Kagami and Kyouka. He has mastered control over his spirit power, allowing him to deflect Kyouka's sound abilities bare handedly. Tools * Puppet Bindings: Using puppet bindings locked away within Tsuzura Temple, Madarai is able to force tsukumogami to obey his command as well as enhance their abilities. ** : Madarai triples the power of the puppet bindings, increasing his own power and tsukumogami's power as a result. Tsugumomo Chuushingura : A warehouse tsukumogami, Chuushingura is the primary tsukumogami of Masuji Madarai which he kept secret from others and is the only tsukumogami he commanded without a puppet binding. Its human form is never seen nor has it ever spoken. Chuushingura takes the form of a small two story building with Japanese style architecture. It has pair of sliding doors from which things can enter it. Its primary ability is repairing minor damage to tools and preservation. With the power of the puppet bindings it gains new and enhanced abilities. * : With the puppet binding giving it enhanced power, Chuushingura is able to fully restore and heal multiple exhausted tsukumogami at the same time by having them enter it. * : By empowering Chuushingura with a puppet binding, it gains the ability to disassemble and reconstruct the tsukumogami within it. By using a second puppet binding on the newly fused tsukumogami, Madarai is able to bind them to him, transforming him into an amalgamation of arms and faces with his torso sticking out. In this new form he is able to use all the abilities of the tsukumogami that were fused together. Due to binding the tsukumogami against their will, Madarai must manually use each ability limiting him to using one ability at a time. The tsugumomo express large amounts of pain when he does so. Enslaved Tsukumogami Multiple tsugumomo from Mayoiga and utilize their abilities. All the the tsugumomo aside from Sanjou are fused together so he can use their abilities in his Hundred Blended Tools form. * Sanjou: Madarai used Sanjoujou, the staff tsugumomo, to counter Kyouka's sound based abilities in his match against Kazuya. During the battle Kazuya was able to free Sanjoujou by vibrating sound through his and Madarai's bodies to damage destroy the puppet bindings. ** : Madarai taps the staff on the ground to great create an area which sound is unable to travel within the open air of the barrier. ** : An ability that allows the user to offset the impact of the sound. * Mimane Miyou: The mirror tsugumomo, Madarai is able to use Mimane's mirror to deflect attacks. * Arumi Ashimine: The crystal ball tsugumomo, Madarai is able to use Arumi's ability to read moments into the future in order to formulate the best course of action. * Shakushisho: A ladle tsugumomo granting Madarai the ability to manipulate water. * Tsuchiyakko: A hammer tsugumomo alloeing Madarai access to wooden mallets as weaponry. * Nagahana: A naginata tsugumomo, granting Madarai access to the weapon and various techniques. * Stone Wall: An unnamed stone wall tsukumogami which allows Madarai to create stone barriers. * Resentment Armor: An unnamed tsukumogami in the form of a samurai helmet with a skull on it. It allows Madarai to manifest a full plate of samurai armour even in his transformed state. It is similar in appearance and functionality to Shinkurou Shishizaki's Grudge Armor. References Site Navigation Category:Characters Category:Human Category:Male Category:Tsuzura Temple Category:Exorcist Category:Enslave Tsukumogami Category:Unknown Status